Overheard at the Counter: Bono, Sinéad, and Van

Verble is meandering through his memories...

"I remember this documentary I saw in the mid-90s, about Irish music.  Both trad and rock, as I recall.  I forget most of it, but it was going through the whole history, and at certain points it would have these short interviews with big name stars at the time.  I remember they asked each the same question, 'What makes you make music?'  like, 'What is your driving inspiration?'

"They asked this of Bono, who replied something like 'I see myself in a long literary tradition, just as being a poet of the street.  The voice of the common man.  All my lyrics touch the heart of the working class, up through all classes, really.  I am more like a poet.'

"Then they asked the same question of Sinéad O'Connor, who said "I am like part of the ancient Celtic tradition.  The voice of the Earth goddesses who spoke to the prophets in song.  In some sense, I am probably a reincarnation of that mystical force so ingrained in Irish culture and history.'

"Then, toward the end of the whole documentary, they asked the same question of Van Morrison, and he just said, 'I dunno.  I write songs.  That's what I do.'

"And I remember shouting out, 'Now THAT guy's the REAL DEAL!'"

Overheard at Table 1: Anchor Babies

Arman: Are we REALLY having this discussion about anchor babies?   Heard on the radio the other day this lady was really going on about how "illegals" come here to have babies so they can get social services.   And what really made this different is that she didn't sound like a freaking wingnut.  She was making a rational argument.

Juli: A lot of people are making that argument.  They're all nucking futs.

Arman: But when you've got a rational one, that's even more dangerous.   For me I just wanted to call up that radio station and tell them, 'Listen you morons.  People fuck.  People fuck a LOT.  People are getting it on all the time.  And women from Latin countries are coming from countries where the men demand it constantly.  Hell, a quinceañera is just a celebration that a girl has reached her 15th birthday withOUT getting pregnant. THAT's how much they do it.   So LAY OFF the rhetoric.

Juli: Arman, women let themselves get pregnant for all kinds of reasons.  Usually women get pregnant just to keep their man around.  I think anybody talking about illegals wanting anchor babies also needs to talk about good old Americans - white, black, brown, whatever - who have babies just to try to keep their men from leaving them.  

Arman: So we're all anchor babies, then?

Juli: In a way, yes.

Overread at the Counter: The Day After Taking Our Daughter to College

The Day After Taking Our Daughter to College

We had taken our daughter to college,

driven in two cars, three and a half hours each way.

Like a good Latino family, we took Abuelita.

We unloaded the pillow pets and the yearbooks in our daughter’s room.

We drove to the nearest Wal-Mart to purchase a laptop.

We stopped for dinner - PF Changs - all three were crying.

On the drive back, around 11pm, still a half-hour from home,

Our daughter calls: she doesn’t know how to work the laptop.

This morning, at breakfast, we eat our beans and eggs.

Abuelita is crying, she says our daughter has nothing to eat.

We try to convince Abuelita that the cafeteria is included in the payment.

Abuelita remains steadfastly unconvinced.

Like a good White Male, I avoid the situation

By going outside to get the ladder and the limb pruners.

I start to trim the tree whose branches have been overgrown for two months.

The limbs begin to fall around my face, around my arms.

In a thick elbow of one branch, there is a cluster of twigs: an abandoned nest.

All the little birds have flown.

MR
2015-0823

Overheard at Table 3: News Stations at your local Credit Union

You just can't make everyone happy.  Case in point: when I was still going to school in College Station at my local credit union they had a tv screen playing, something just to lull your brain while waiting in line.  One day I went in and noticed the tv was turned off.  That was weird, so I just said to the teller, you know, making small talk, "weird, this is the first time I've seen the tv turned off."

and she said to me, "Yeah, we finally decided to turn it off.  We used to play CNN and people complained that we were being too Liberal so we switched it to Fox News and people complained that we were being too Conservative."

Overread at Booth 2: After Market in the City of Melting Snow

After Market in the City of Melting Snow

At least once a week,

Walk into the city of melting snow;

Wet weaves through the bricks, cracked

Like melancholy/

A drain of tears,

Through which step the citizens, like

Shadows creep through

Well-worn memories.

There is a weak light

That gathers at dusk.

Shop windows close their tired eyes.

Cart wheels creak

Over the paving stones, their loads

Lighter now than at the early hours

Of the dawn:

So begins the trek

To the country side/

Full of night shadows and banshees.

MR

2015-0817

Overheard at Table 2: Kids These Days

Sandra: You won't believe this, but Bryan just said his first words!

Bree: Omigawd you must be so excited!   Was it "mama"?

Sandra: You'll - never - believe it.   He looked right into my eyes and said, "I'm a girl!"

Bree: Shut the front door!

Sandra: I knOW!  Isn't it wonderful!   She knows WHAT she is!

Bree:  Kids these days, they are SOOO self-aware!

Sandra:  We're so excited, we're going to have gender reconstruction surgery next month, just before her first birthday.

Bree: That will be SUCH a party.

Sandra: Mike is such a kidder, though.  He says he knows a Moyel who'll do what he calls a "super-bris" ...

Bree:  Do you think you can name her Bree-anne?

Overheard at Booth 5: New Movie about 1969

John Steppenwolf: Heard last week that there's a new movie coming out about the Stonewall Riots.

Niall Carter: Explain that to someone who was a suckling babe at the time.

Steppenwolf: New York. Gay residents of Greenwich Village.  Police brutality.  Finally had enough and reacted.   

Niall Carter: Riots in New York?   How is that newsworthy?

Steppenwolf: Pretty pivotal point in the gay rights movement.   Paved the way for casting it in the light of civil rights instead of just lifestyle choice.

Lucky Moran: I heard that the movie already is getting protests.

Niall: Why?  Anti-gay and the churchies?

Lucky: Actually no.  A bunch of LGBT activists are totally POd because the main character is a white guy.   They say that it ignores the contribution of people of color and transgender.

Niall: God some people are never happy.